Rationale: By the time a child learns
how to read it is time for a child to learn why they are reading, and that
reason is to learn. This lesson is intended to help students with
comprehension and understanding of an article. In this lesson students
will be reading an expository text to learn. The children will practice
summarizing what they read through different activities and thoughtful
instruction. The main activity will help the students to recognize
main ideas and details for this nonfiction story. It will also help
them practice using correct spelling for frequently used sight vocabulary
and uncommon vocabulary and apply correct principles of grammar.

Procedure: 1. First the teacher will
do a pre-reading lesson with the students. The teacher will tell
the students that they are going to read an article on gray wolves.
Questions will be asked by the teacher to let the students predict and
express what they think they already know about wolves and what they might
be reading about. The questions will be: What kind of family do gray
wolves come from? (dog, coyote, wolf), What do they eat? (meat eaters,
grazing animals), Where do they live? (North America, Northern Europe and
Asia), Typically how big are they? (almost 80 pounds). The teacher
will write the students input on the board so they can keep up with their
predictions.

2. The students will then be given
a copy of “Gray Wolf”. They will be instructed to read it silently
and underline important details in the story. The teacher will explain
this by saying, "silent reading is when you read quietly to yourself all
by yourself, take as long as you need to and sit quietly until everyne
is done".

3. The students will then be given
the story pyramid worksheet. The worksheet will have 8 lines at the
top of the page in the shape of a pyramid. The first line will be
one word that describes what the article is about. The second line
will have two words about the introductory paragraph. The third line
will have three words about the gray wolves and their packs. The
fourth line will have four words about the wolves mating and their pups.
The fifth line will have five more words about the pups. The sixth
line will have six words about the wolves territory and food. The
seventh line will have seven words about the wolves communicating.
The eighth line will have eight words about where they are from and their
population. The teacher will draw the pyramid on the board and what
they are supposed to write on each line as a guide.

4. After the students have completed
the pyramid with their description words they will be instructed to write
their summary. At the bottom of the worksheet will be lines for a
paragraph. The students have to write a sentence for each line in
the pyramid using the words. When the students get down to the bigger
lines of the pyramid they can break it up into two sentences even three
if they need to.

5. Last the teacher will take up the
pyramids and paragraphs and then ask the students questions. The
teacher will ask a variety of questions such as what they liked and disliked
about the story pyramid and did it help with their understanding of the
story. Also, the teacher will review with the class about what they
learned from the story and how accurate they were with their predictions
and the actual facts. The students will share what they learned from
the story.

Assessment: The teacher will review
the pyramids and paragraphs to see what the students learned. The
teacher will grade according to whether the students used good, descriptive
words from the story and followed directions for their pyramid .
Also, the teacher will check to see if the students wrote good sentences
with the description words.